Tales from the Forlorn Hope is a classic old-school not-D&D adventure book, of the kind we used to see all the time back in 1992, the year of its publication. Written for Cyberpunk 2020, it has eight adventures, centred around the titular Forlorn Hope bar, where cyberpunks and solos can hang out and get work. I’m very fond of these old adventure books – I think it was Dungeon magazine that got me hooked on TTRPGs before I ever played them – and I’m looking for a gaming project. And it just so happens to be Seven Hills soon, with a theme of PUNK. So, here goes:

I’m going to run all eight adventures, using eight different cyberpunk systems.

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Why not just run it with the original, or the updated Cyberpunk Red? Well, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the system in the original Cyberpunk. For me, it’s like Traveller, a game that starts with an excellent character generation system that then gets progressively worse as you play it – Cyberpunk at least feels cool though, which puts it a notch above Traveller for me (as a side note, I’m beginning to think I might be being unfair about Traveller – expect a project next year about that as well!)

Also, cyberpunk is a genre I run so rarely, I’d like to see how it spins out. It’s mission based, which should provide a solid structure, and having a plot to base each adventure on should make it manageable to provide a proper overview of this classic adventure book. I’ll set the games in a sort-of shared universe; and although I don’t think I can match pregens exactly, I’ll see what I can do.

Oh, and Patreons will get all my prep notes for each adventure, as their written up and run – so if you want to follow along, pick up a copy of the book – drivethru even has a POD version, although I’m working from a ragged ebay purchase from last year – and let me know what you think!

The Method

I’m going for the “rip apart and reconstruct” method of con game prep from published scenarios, the method I use when the scenario isn’t really suitable to how I run games. So I’ll break down each mission into its beats and activities, and then rebuild it with the mechanics of the game I’m running in mind. For Neon City Overdrive, or Cyberpunk Red, I don’t expect I’ll have to change too much – although the scenarios are often super linear, or simplistic – whereas for more out-there systems like Bleeding Edge or TORG I’ll need to do more leg work.

Did I mention the scenarios are linear? I’ve only had a detailed read of two of them so far, but – well, this was the 90s. The golden age of AD&D2e plotted adventures, and Cyberpunk 2020 was all about style over substance anyway. The initial adventure, for instance, consists of breaking into an embassy, and then blowing up a yacht. Just like that, two scenes interspersed by a mission briefing, an investigative bit (which the scenario suggests you can just get the Fixer who hired you to do), and collect the reward. It needs more.

I’m planning to add that “more” through subplots. Some systems will support this anyway – in The Sprawl, complications arise naturally through the game’s moves – but if not I’ll throw in some rivals and additional complicated NPCs or factions to mix things up. In a mission-based one-shot, these make the missions a bit of a collapsible dungeon, too – helping with timing for one-shots.

The City

All of these will be set around the Forlorn Hope bar, which as before will be in Night City. Different Night Cities might look a bit different – I’m going to shoot for a Shadowrun mission, for instance, so there’ll be magic and orks in that one – but they should hold together similarly.

To give the City some character, I’m going to use the Urban Crawl guidelines in So You Think Want to be a Games Master – district movements trigger colour encounters, and keyed locations. Because I’m ostensibly using the same city, this should be one-and-done prep that I can reuse for each game.

The Systems

So, my initial list of systems to use (subject to change) is below – if you think I’ve missed any off, or want to steer me in a particular direction, let me know in the comments!

The Sprawl – PBTA Cyberpunk 2020, basically – should be an easy fit

Neon City Overdrive – super-simple Action Tales cyberpunk game, with a bit of narrative heft

Savage Worlds – there’s a few cyberpunk iterations, not sure which I’ll try or if I’ll just use the SWADE book and run with that

Cities Without Number – arguably the coolest bit of Sine Nomine’s cyberpunk game is the missions and factions bit that I won’t be using, but I’m interested to see if the system holds up

Cyberpunk Red – of course. d10+STAT leaves me cold, but I’ll try and cope with it.

Shadowrun – look, I know it’s crunchy, but it’s also iconic. So bring the orks.

TORG – my only cyberpunk con games so far have been set in the Cyberpapacy, so I’m going to try it here – like Shadowrun, a bit of magic here and there, and of course a multi-genred group of heroes.

Shadow of the Beanstalk – this Genesys adaptation of the Android: Netrunner world might seem a bit of an odd choice, but the setting’s ace, and the system is a favourite, so this is a shoe-in

Bleeding Edge – I’ve a soft spot for Sanguine Games – probably all the anthro stuff they do – so this slightly odd-looking system is in there.

OK, I know I’ve got nine there – and I’m half expecting to want to stick with Neon City Overdrive based on what I’ve seen and heard about it – but that gives me some options at least. Wish me luck!